Under Pressure
by the pick-it fence
Summary: Most people already knew that Daisy was different. She was different in way that no one could really explain. From going head-first into what may seem like certain death, she would still come out happy and healthy. The thing is, now she knows why she's different. Now she's faced with reality. It's the terror of knowing what this world is all about.
1. Prologue

**Under Pressure**

* * *

**Prologue**

Just take a moment and think about what it would be like to be in a place you didn't know or understand. Think about all the people you would see, and possibly try to avoid. Think about everything that you would feel in this situation: fear, confusion, or whatever feeling that doesn't have a word that describes it well. Put this all together and imagine running. Imagine running away from your problems. Imagine running away so that no one could find you. Imagine running so far away that you end up somewhere else – somewhere you don't recognize.

This is what happened to Daisy. However, she wasn't running away from her problems; she was running away from the _truth_.

The truth was too much to bear, and frankly, too much to understand. All she could remember was rows of numbers all changing constantly at a rapid pace. She vaguely remembered a green flash of light and someone saying something to her, but the words were inaudible in her mind. Whatever the person was saying was all jumbled up and hard to understand.

The princess kept running until she reached a cliff. It was the end of the road now. She turned around, hoping to find somebody that could help her. Daisy didn't really need help, but she wanted somebody with her – around her – to keep her company. She didn't know how to describe it. She was lost and lonely, and every second she wasted standing on the edge of that cliff, she would come to regret later.

Daisy saw a white flash off the corner of her eye. There was no time to react and before she knew it, she was tossed off the edge of the cliff and landed back-first onto a rock. She could feel her bones crack and the pain spread quickly throughout her body. Her voice was gone and her vision began to blur. She was dying, wasn't she?

Daisy fell to the green grass, glowing dimly in the moonlight. She tried to crawl away, but her body wouldn't let her move an inch. She was stuck, lying in the grass, dying slowly.

* * *

"But I feel fine!"

"You've just recovered from a broken … well, everything. I think it's best if you stay in bed."

"C'mon! I feel fine! I could take on the world, doc!"

"Princess, please. Stay in bed for another day or two. I'll be back in a few minutes with some magazines and water. Just, stay here."

Daisy crossed her arms over her chest and winced. She had moved the plasma needle a little while performing the gesture. She uncrossed her arms and sat there with a frown.

The doctor stepped out of the room. "This has to be some kind of joke. This is just not possible."

"Oh, doctor!" Princess Peach ran over to the Toad dressed in white. "How is she? Is she going to make it?"

The doctor looked up. "Yes. Actually, she made a full recovery overnight."

Peach smiled at the sound of it, but the smile disappeared as she contemplated the sentence, "A full recovery overnight?"

"Yes," the doctor flipped to a page in the clipboard, "I can't make sense of it, though. She was in critical condition less than ten hours ago. It was highly improbable that she was going to make it out alive, but here are the results of the latest test. Everything is perfect. Your friend is completely healthy."

Peach stood there, puzzled, "Completely healthy?"

The doctor looked up from the clipboard and at the princess. He smiled, "You shouldn't be asking questions now, princess. Your best friend is still alive. You should be blessing the gods." He took the clipboard and pulled a pen out of his breast pocket. He walked away down the hall, fading into the crowd.

Peach stepped inside Daisy's room. "How are you feeling, Daisy?"

Daisy smiled and imitated her best friend's high-pitched voice, "Just peachy!"

The girls giggled and Peach pulled up a chair. She grabbed Daisy's hand and patted it. "The doctor told me you made a full recovery overnight."

"I know!" Daisy's enthusiasm echoed through the room. "I feel fantastic, but the kooky old doctors won't let me out."

Peach grinned. "It's a miracle, Daisy."

"Yeah. I guess it is."

"I was so glad I found you when I did. If you got here any later, who knows what could've happened."

Daisy's smile faded. "Yeah, who knows?" All the memories of last night came back to Daisy abruptly. The truth, the white light, the cliff, the fall, the rock, the grass, Peach finding her, the shrill screams for help, the hospital room, the doctors, the people staring, the pain, the searing pain burning in her torso.

All this made Daisy grab her head. She shut her eyes and clenched her jaw. Peach leaned in closer. "Daisy? Daisy, what happened?"

"I … I'm fine," Daisy looked up at her friend. "I just think I need some water."

Peach stood up. "I'll get it for you. Just take deep breaths."

Daisy nodded and her head slowly stopped throbbing.

Peach walked out of the room and towards a vending machine. With every little step, she couldn't help but think that something was wrong – not just with Daisy, but with this situation. A full recovery from almost certain death overnight? That sounded pretty conspicuous.

Peach shook the thought away. Her friend was alive and well. She should be happy, not questioning everything.

She _should_ be happy …

* * *

**This takes some ideas from Great Mistake's _Erased (prologue)_ but it's different story-line. I think I did good with this! I tried to connect to the readers at the beginning, set up the stage, and I let everything play out. **

**I haven't posted much since my return, but I'm trying to keep up with it. **

**Leave a comment, review (any advice would be awesome!), follow, favorite, PM me for any information, favorite me, I recommend you don't follow me, and I will see YOU ... in the next update! BYE-BYE!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

The first word came to Daisy. She stood there and grabbed her head, breathing heavily as the word became audible again.

_You_

The way it was said was shaky and with some slight accent that she had never heard before. It was only the one word she could hear from that sentence, though. The rest of the sentence was still inaudible, but still fresh in her mind.

"Daisy?"

She let go of her head and looked at her friend. "It's fine. I just got another one of my headaches."

Peach nodded, "They've become more frequent since you left the hospital."

"I don't need to go back there," Daisy snapped, "I'm fine."

Peach remained silent as the two princesses walked around the castle. Daisy tried to recall the other words to the sentence, but nothing else came to her, and thinking about it too much gave her a real headache. Daisy had mostly been telling little fibs to Peach to keep whatever Daisy knew (or wasn't conscious of knowing) to herself. Whether or not she needed to keep it to herself in order to protect her friends was beyond her, but she was better safe than sorry.

"How did you fall?"

Daisy turned to look at Peach. She stood there with a solemn expression. Daisy remained bent as she picked a flower. "I think these ones are called Cosmos. The red petals have these little dabs of purple which gives it that cosmic-y feel."

Peach noted that Daisy kept on ignoring this question ever since her early release from the hospital. Peach didn't see the fall, and only came to the rescue. "Tell me how you fell," Peach insisted, "A fall that great must have an even greater story behind it."

"There is no story behind it," Daisy turned her head back to the flower. "I just fell off a cliff and landed on top of a rock. That's all."

"Is it, now?"

"Yeah," Daisy composed herself, but kept her eyes on the flower.

Peach stepped closer. "You must think I'm a fool. I don't believe you."

"You think I care if you do?"

"Why don't you just tell me what happened?"

"Because you already know what happened. There is no story, there never was, and there never will be. Mind your own beeswax."

"I just want to help you. There's no reason to be rude."

Daisy turned around. Her fists were curled into balls and she gave the princess an evil glare. "I appreciate your concern, but this doesn't concern _**you**_."

Daisy strode away, not looking back at her friend. Peach stood there, confused and hurt.

* * *

Daisy was staying in Peach's castle for the time being. The two didn't talk to each other for the rest of the day, however. Daisy stayed in her room trying hard to remember what she could, but soon her headache made her sick. She became nauseous and decided she needed some fresh air.

It was late at night when she left her room. The castle was practically empty, except for a few servants still roaming about. Daisy walked over to the library's balcony and took a deep breath. Most of the ill feeling disappeared, but she still felt a little woozy.

"What are you doing here, Daisy?"

The princess turned around and smiled, "Hey, Luigi! I didn't know you were here."

Luigi walked towards her and shrugged. "Mario and I needed to settle a few things with the princess. We're leaving soon, I think, but I just wanted to get some fresh air."

Daisy turned back around with Luigi beside her, "Same here."

After a brief moment of silence, Luigi spoke. "I heard about what happened, to you."

Daisy quickly tried to change the subject. "Hey, look! There's a fountain down there."

Luigi ignored her, "It's a miracle – what happened."

Daisy playfully punched his arm. "Dare me to jump?"

"What?" He shook his head, "No. After what just happened? That's not going to happen again, Daisy."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh please. It doesn't matter, anyway."

"What are you –"

Luigi was cut off as Daisy climbed over the railing and sat facing the fountain two stories below. She let go of her grip on the railing and leaned forward, closing her eyes.

As she prepared to fall into the cold waters below, she left something pull her back. She screamed and fell back, landing on top of Luigi.

His arms were wrapped around her waist and they both fell to the floor, Luigi feeling more pain out of the two. Daisy's eyes opened and she registered what just happened. She pulled Luigi's arms off of her waist and stood up. Luigi sat up, rubbing his head.

"I was only kidding," Daisy said, not sounding too confident.

"But we can't have you doing dangerous stunts like that."

"Quit being such a wuss, Luigi." Daisy stormed away, returning back to her room.

Luigi stood up and walked back to the meeting room, asking himself why Daisy was acting so strange lately.

* * *

Luigi returned to the meeting room where Mario and Princess Peach had already been in the middle of a conversation. As the green plumber entered the room, the two stopped talking and stared at him, as if he had done something wrong.

"Where did you go, bro?" Mario was the first to ask.

Luigi shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "I just went over by the balcony to get some fresh air."

"Oh," Mario's worried expression disappeared quickly.

"I also saw Daisy there. She was just sorta standing around."

Peach gazed at him. "Daisy? Did you speak to her?"

"Of course," Luigi turned to her, "She said she was fine, but she was acting pretty weird."

"She's _been_ acting weird lately. I can't quite figure out why."

"Women are always hard to understand," Mario thought aloud. Peach glared at him, but said nothing. He averted his eyes.

The three stood in silence. Peach was tapping her finger on the edge of the table in the middle of the room. Her hair fell to her shoulders as she looked down at her reflection in the freshly waxed table.

"Was she like this when she was in the hospital?"

Peach looked back at Mario. "Yes. Well, not precisely. She had headaches when she was there, and they've become more frequent." Peach returned her gaze to the table, "Now if only we could put two and two together."

"Maybe it's a simple head virus," Luigi suggested. "Maybe we're just over looking things."

_Head virus? _Peach doubted it. She recalled the memories of that night. Daisy was limp and cold, almost as if she were dead. Peach tried to picture the scene one more time. There was one thing missing, though, that you would expect from a fall like that.

"Blood," Peach mumbled.

The brothers stood back, wide-eyed, "Blood?"

Peach stood up straight and pushed her bright blonde hair back behind her shoulders. "She was not bleeding when I found her. She was completely intact."

"And what does that have to do with blood?" Mario asked.

"Well, when humans are cut in such a way, they bleed. Daisy fell on a rock, meaning she was bound to bleed from the impact of such a sharp object. However, when I found her, she did not bleed. There was no blood anywhere on her body, nor on the grass."

Peach stopped there, looking at the brothers when she did. The three remained silent once again. They didn't need to say anything more. They all knew that something was terribly wrong and different about Daisy.

* * *

**I've noticed that most of my fics have some kind of dark side to them. In this one, the entire beginning is like a dark side, but there are no cookies! (gets pelted with tomatoes for such a horrible joke.)**

**Anywho, **

**Leave a comment, review, follow, favorite, PM me for any info, follow me, favorite me (only if y'all want to!), and I will see YOU ... in the next update! BYE-BYE!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach tried their best to find out as much as they could about Daisy over the course of the next three days. The four friends sort of grew distant during that period of time, but it was exactly what the three wanted. Although they had gathered some information on the princess, it wasn't enough to come to a conclusion.

Daisy eventually stopped holding a grudge towards her friends. She spent countless hours locked in her room to let it all out and focus on the task at hand, whatever it was. The memories of that night were still pretty vague, but if she was lucky, she would discover something new. Now that she thought about it, though, she hadn't really found out what she was running from, or whom. She only remembered the white light, ramming her off the edge like some demented bull, and her fall off the cliff.

But, with all this in mind, whatever her friends didn't know couldn't hurt them. Daisy made sure not to tell anyone what had happened to her, unless she needed to.

There was a knock at the door. Daisy looked up from her laid back position on the bed. "Come in," she said, putting her head back down.

Peach stepped in, closing the door on the way. "I'm glad you're not busy."

"Huh," Daisy grunted, keeping her eyes on the ceiling. "Why are you _glad I'm not busy_?"

"I needed to talk to you," Peach sat down beside Daisy, "and I also need you to do something important for me."

Daisy sighed. This was not the right time to ask her to do something, but since Peach was a good friend; she sat up and let the princess proceed.

"First, we talk." Peach straightened out her dress before she started. "Have you been feeling well lately? Do you know why you fell off that cliff? Do you need to tell me something?" Peach stopped, and then asked, "Have you been lying to me, at all?"

Daisy couldn't handle it. Peach asked those questions so fast. It was hard to decide what to say and what not to say. Daisy didn't think of this as a talk anymore – it was an interrogation.

The princess started with the first question. "I've been better. The headaches stopped a while ago," and this was true. Then, the next question: "I can't recall why, but I know I felt a push," this was true as well. The next question: "I don't think I need to tell you anything that really matters, but I'll keep you in the know," this was a nice dodge. And, for the last question, Daisy summoned all her courage and put on her best acting voice. "I wouldn't like to you." Daisy smiled and put her pinkie out. The girls hadn't done this since they were kids, but Peach couldn't resist but smile and hook her pinkie around her friend's.

"Now," Daisy said after their chain broke apart, "What did you want me to do?"

Peach moved around to make herself more comfortable on the bed. She was slouching, which had become a bad habit of hers. "Right, I need you to go to the post office for me. I need to finish a few things first, so I don't have the time to check myself."

Daisy thought of a quick rebuttal, but kept her mouth closed. She knew not to decline any of Peach's offers, and she learned it the hard way. "Sure. I'll go there in a minute."

"Thank you, Daisy." Peach stood up and opened the door. Before she left, she looked at her friend and smiled. "You're a huge help."

Daisy gave her a quick thumbs-up and the princess left the room. Daisy flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She decided on taking a shower before she left.

* * *

Up on the top floor of the castle towers, Mario and Peach started reviewing some evidence. Of course, since there was nothing else they had, they were left only guessing.

"It doesn't make sense, though." Mario sifted through some notes. "Do you think we're over-thinking this? I think we're over-thinking this."

"No," Peach grabbed the note he was holding. "We're just not paying the right attention to her actions. I just sent her out. She should be on her way now." Peach glided over to the window and looked around. Just as she suspected, Daisy had just left.

Daisy didn't bother putting on much for this trip. Her dress-like tennis outfit was enough, she thought.

"That's great, but what does this have to do with the no-blood revelation you had a few days ago?"

"I'm just guessing that something is wrong with her, and you didn't doubt it either, Mario. I'm just going to keep an eye on her until something pops up." Peach looked over her shoulder, "But we might be on to something."

Mario nodded, unsure of what he had gotten himself into until he realized someone was missing. "Have you seen Luigi?"

"Not today, Mario – _Oh my goodness_!"

"What?!" Mario rushed to her side, gently pushing her away.

"I just saw a flash around her. She looked like she just…just…I don't know how to explain it!"

"She looks fine."

"That's just now, though!"

"What happened?"

"For a second, her entire body was green and covered with little numbers. But only for a second."

"Glitch? She glitched-out?"

"What?"

"I've seen it before with computers. They flash like that, but only on occasion."

"But, what does that mean?"

"I don't know. Are you sure that happened?"

Daisy felt a tingle shoot up and down her body, but it was gone the next second. She stopped and rubbed her head. A headache came back to her and her head started to throb.

"Daisy!"

She turned around. Luigi ran up to her and asked where she was going.

"I'm just headed to the post office to get something for Peach." Then she smiled as the thought crossed her mind. "You wanna come with?"

"If that's okay with you," Luigi folded his hands and looked down shyly.

"Yeah, I need the company."

The two made their way towards the post office, talking on the way there.

* * *

**So, Daisy glitched out. But what does that mean? **

**(shrug)**

**I was planning on posting two chapters at once, but it's obvious that THAT is not going to happen. I'm also to lazy to proofread now, so that makes me a certified douche when it comes to the reviews that I post about people not re-reading their work. **

**(DOUCHE)**

**Don't worry, I'll start re-reading again, but for now, if you ever see me post a review between now (August 2013) and next month (September 2013) that has something to do with proofreading, feel free to call me a douchenozzle. For now, Chrome didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary. **

**Leave a review, favorite, follow, yada yada, PM me for infor-mation, and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE! **


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